Politico senior political writer Ben Smith first highlighted Edwards' haircuts in an April 16 blog entry. A July 17 post on NBC News' First Read blog -- an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit -- advised readers to "look for Edwards supporters to use this as a test to see if the MSM covers [Republican presidential candidate Mitt] Romney as harshly as Edwards was." However, as Media Matters documented, NBC seized on the Edwards story but completely ignored disclosures that Romney's presidential campaign spent $300 on makeup.